The Last of the Eden Advance
by silhouettepoms
Summary: The last living member of the Eden Advance remembers her friends.


THE LAST OF EDEN ADVANCE   
By  
Elizabeth Heckert   
E-Mail: PomMom2Be@aol.com (if Ellie or Maggie reads this.. EMAIL ME! LOL)   
Timeline: Far future  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
Written when I was 14 so take it for what it's worth! (now 20.. so it's an old piece)  
The Last of the Eden Advance  
by Elizabeth Heckert   
  
It was just after sunset on G889, the landscape surrounding the city of New   
Pacifica illuminated by the dim glow of twilight. The lights reflecting in   
the pool before the Great Monument, situated in a secluded area set off   
aways from the rest of the city, danced in strange and mysterious patterns   
before Devon Adair's eyes.   
  
It was such a beautiful night, as were most on G889; the two great moons   
hung above her in the sky, casting their own reflection in the pool which   
Devon sat beside, gazing up at the Great Monument. It had been erected just   
a few years before, with a great ceremony and celebration following. It was   
a tribute to the Eden Advance, those who had founded this colony, made it   
all possible. In memory of those who had made it, and those who were lost   
along the way. It seemed to stand for everything that represented what Devon   
was; her hopes, her dreams, her entire life was represented in this   
beautifully carved statue.   
  
It depicted a Terrian, standing tall and proud over the land it overlooked,   
down the hill to New Pacifica, its staff held straight, seeming to crackle   
with the energy that the glowing veins of morganite inset in it contained.   
Beside this Terrian stood a small boy, a curiously shaped walking stick in   
his hand, gazing straight ahead towards the horizon, where the Sea of Antius   
bordered what was now the great city of New Pacifica. Ulysses Adair, at   
eight years old, the time of his Transformation by the Terrians.   
  
Below the sculpture, were the names. The names of all the members of the   
Eden Advance crew, even those who had perished before reaching the planet's   
surface, and those who had never been accounted for. Devon got up from her   
seat beside the reflecting pool to examine the delicately engraved names of   
the crew.   
  
Julia Heller, Alonzo Solace, Morgan Martin... to some school children in New   
Pacifica, they were just names. Historical figures, names in books, they   
meant nothing, absolutely nothing. But to Devon they were friends, perhaps   
friends close enough to even be considered family. Indeed, over the years,   
the Advance had become maybe even closer than family. They had experienced   
both life and death together, and that was something that could never be   
forgotten. And so the bond had remained, even as one by one they had all   
passed on from the world they had known, leaving sometimes as abruptly as   
they fled their homes on the Stations decades before. Others has simply   
faded away gradually, become like the distant speck of light in the heavens   
that represented Earth, and the life they left behind so long ago.   
  
Devon gently brushed her finger against the cool stone of the monument,   
feeling each of the names carefully, as if doing so would bring back the   
memories that had begun to fade over the years, some of which had been long   
lost. Eben Syngh, Alicia Denner, Bess Martin, John Danziger... Devon smiled   
slightly when she saw that name, running her fingers against the monument   
where it was ingraved lovingly. John... he had been a good man. Quite   
stubborn, but a good man. And an even better husband...   
  
With a sigh, Devon once again looked up at the statue that sat atop the   
names. Uly looked so young in the statue, so small, not at all the tall,   
handsome man he had grown to become. He had been a child then, sure enough,   
but now he had children of his own. Mairi and Audrea... every time Devon saw   
her grandchildren, she couldn't help but think how much they reminded her of   
herself. Actually, they reminded her of many things, as everything having to   
do with this planet had a habit of doing.   
  
But now it was getting late, and Devon's frail body was growing tired. Uly   
had always warned her--warned her not to go out this late at night; it would   
be the death of her, he'd said. But Devon still had one more stop to make   
before calling it a night.   
  
Arriving at the large clearing on the bluffs overlooking the Sea of Antius,   
Devon slowly knelt down to the ground, casting her eyes to the sky, where   
the stars were now shining brilliantly. She then bowed her head to face the   
ground, as was the custom of the Terrians--a culture she had grown to know   
well over the years--and mumbled softly, "G889, for years you have been home   
and sanctuary to myself and my family, but now I must ask that it end. The   
others are gone, each having left when the time was right, and even my son   
and daughter-and-law have now passed on. I do not question your reasons for   
taking them, nor do I feel wronged by your doing so. All that I ask is that   
you let this end now. I am the last of us; the last of the Eden Advance."   
Pressing her palms into the earth, Devon closed her eyes and trilled softly,   
in the Terrian way that her son had taught her, and then, with a soft sigh,   
she took her last breath.   
  
And then she awoke. It was dawn, the sun rising up over the waters of the   
Sea, the people of the city waking to a new day. Devon slowly raised her   
head to look about her surroundings. She was in the burial grounds, sure   
enough, where all the others had been buried, where she had shut her eyes   
the night before. But what was going on? She had asked the planet to take   
her back, so why hadn't it?   
  
She was momentarily confused, until she felt a hand on her shoulder.   
Immediatly on her feet, she twisted about to see what it was. Her jaw   
dropped in awe as she realized it was John, his image defined from pure   
light cast by the sun of G889 down onto the planet, smiling at her, and   
offering his hand.   
  
"What, John? But you died, years ago, in the accident... "   
  
"Shhh, Devon, it's all right," he said, and motioned about them. It was then that she   
realized they were not alone. They were surrounded by their family, the Eden   
Advance members, all shimmering beings of light, all welcoming her. Devon   
anxiously accepted John's hand, and a sudden feeling of peace spread about   
her. Then, the entire group bowed their heads, and receded into the earth.   
  
G889 had taken them back.   
  
-The End- 


End file.
